Good vs Evil Flashcards
Utterson - GvsE
first character the reader is introduced to in the novella and we follow the story through his eyes.
Respectable lawyer, tolerant of others - “last good influence in the lives of down-going men” - doesnt look down on class although that would be very common for a judgemental victorian society.
Loyal friend despite awkwardness - his friendships “were the growth of time”, described by the similie of “Like ivy”, which gives his friendship an all ecompassing feel to it.
Gaps in the narrative where the information is left unsaid. U, an otherwise acceptable gentleman with a “fairly harmless” past, is said to have done “many ill things”. This makes the reader wonder as to what exactly a “good influence” like U could have done in his past.
Lanyon - GvsE
Good person that gets corrupted by a bad person
Upper class respected gentlemen, respected for his work
“received” “his crowding patients”
larger than life, amicable
“genuine feeling”
Audience unnerved by “deep-seated terror of the mind” description
Vast departure from his “happy, hearty” self - now “the rosy man had grown pale” - unimaginable horror
Lanyon’s death is a moral point about the wrongness of Jekyll’s actions - against nature
“you may perhaps come to learn the right and wrong of this” - not only to utterson but also to the readers
Jekyll - GvsE
respected doctor
became “distinguished for religion” after feeling guilty about H
J’s motivations to separate these 2 sides of him. Felt he needed a guilt-free outlet for all his secret fantasies that he had to hide his whole life. H would allow him to take part in this without consequence or conscience. Wanted the “unjust” to “go his way” whereas the “just” would “walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path”. J would continue to prosper while H committed crimes.
even before h he was indulging in secret evil desires:
“I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” - already was repressing his true desires before he became H, which was the reason he needed H as an escape
Ultimately represses the most integral part of his personality until he cannot stand it anymore - he is a character in the book that doesnt repress parts of himself. Despite his charitable work to counteract H’s wrongdoings and crimes, he still indulges in becoming H.
Hyde - GvsE
“a girl of maybe eight or ten”
“the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” - remorseless
Violence in his everyday personality and being “gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me”
“I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at the first sight” - this is so unnatural that a seemingly respectable gentlemen (the way he is dressed) can have such a malicious streak - merciless - the evil is so evident in him - so unnatural
“clubbed him to the earth” - vivid, graphic descriptions of violence unnerve the audience.
physically repulsive - phrenology and charles darwin - “troglodytic” “animalistic”
There is no redemption for H - he is “wholly evil”
Hyde is described as “troglodytic” or “ape-like”, linking to Darwin’s theory of evolution. Stevenson fed into common victorian fears and portrayed the horror that an upstanding citizen like J came from an “animalistic” being, and that man’s true form is one of violence and sin.
The struggle between Jekyll and Hyde - GvsE
Jekyll had to separate this part of him so that the good can coexist with the evil
Freudian personality theory
Hyde is “despised and friendless” however when J is in H’s form he feels “younger, lighter” and “happier”. - despite this part of him being evil, he is drawn to it, even though he is a seemingly good man.
J was “radically both” of these parts of him. Even though J’s life sounds more desirable to the reader, J is stuck between which side he should choose - very human struggle.
Hyde is id - lacking “balancing instincts” (eg when he “Mauled” carew and had a “song upon his lips”
J’s conscience is the superego - “gratitude and remorse”, forcing him to “smother” the “hideous images” - H has cursed his life but he still struggles between something so abhorrent and something so attractive.
“I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.”
J is the ego, stuck between these 2 parts of life.
